Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday said that media in Delhi is demonizing the situation to damage tourist industry and stabilization of peace and security in Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a press conference here, Governor, as per Kashmir News Service (KNS) correspondent said: “In my district (Muzafarnagar), five people are killed on the day when Panchayat polls are held in that state. Tourists are daily looted on the Meerut highway. There is no news about these incidents, but a killing in Kashmir is debated for five days on national news channels only to paint a dismal picture of the atmosphere of peace and security to demonise Kashmir situation which damages the prospects of tourist seasons and atmosphere of peace and security in Kashmir.”

Saying that he is scared of media’s false propaganda, Governor Malik urged the local media to avoid the false propaganda and instead highlight the positive sides of the situation in Kashmir to help people prosper in future.

The Governor expressed satisfaction at people conclusion of the Panchayat and Lok Sabha elections in the state and said he was proud of the people for that.

However, he regretted that the mainstream political failed to persuade people to vote in the Lok Sabha polls. “I can ask them what has been the percentage of voting in these elections? They (mainstream parties) have failed to persuade people to vote,” he said.

He said he tried his best to persuade the local parties to participate in the panchayat polls too, but they did not agree. “Yet we conducted the elections to empower the people at the grassroots,” he added.

The Governor — who heads the anti-militancy grid called the Unified Headquarters in the state — also spoke about militancy in Kashmir. “Pakistan is in trouble. It is fatigued, it has started realising that it cannot break India, and yet it will keep doing certain things.

“Militant training camps are still active there, but we are neutralising the militants and new recruitments are also down,” he said. (KNS)